COLOMBIA: FREEDOM FOR JESUS SANTRICH AND RESPECT OF THE PEACE AGREEMENTS!

COLOMBIA: FREEDOM FOR JESUS SANTRICH AND RESPECT OF THE PEACE AGREEMENTS!

17 April 2018

The Working Group on Latin America and the Caribbean of the Party of the European Left (PIE) demands the immediate release of Jesús Santrich, imprisoned on the basis of a warrant for the arrest by a United States court.
The capture of Jesus Santich and the threat of extradition to the United States constitutes a clear violation of the Peace Agreements, as they violate transitory article 19 of Legislative Act 01 of 2017, on the basis of which the Special Justice for Peace (JEP) is the only competent for these cases.
The accusation of participating in acts related to drug trafficking is clearly a fake invention aimed at hitting the peace, ending with the leaders who head the Revolutionary Alternative Force of the Common (FARC).
Jesús Santrich is on an indefinite hunger strike to protest his arrest and threats of extradition to the United States.
Jesus Santrich participated in the negotiating round for peace in Havana, Cuba and is about to occupy his deputy seat on July 20. The PIE considers that this type of actions by the United States and the Colombian Prosecutor's Office, both endorsed by the Colombian government, have the clear intention of nullifying the peace process desired by the Colombian people.
For us, it is vital that the peace agreements will fully comply, and the institutions that derive from them are respected, among which the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, whose competence, once again, has been violated by the Colombian Prosecutor's Office with the evident support from the government of the United States.

Working Group on Latin America and the Caribbean of the Party of the European Left:

• demands the immediate release of Jesús Santrich, and political prisoners, as established in the agreements.

• demands to the Colombian government, the Prosecutor's Office and all the country's institutions to respect and comply with the Peace Agreements

• demands the end of the numerous assassinations of social leaders and the assassinations of guerrillas fighters who believed in peace.

• invite the continuation of peace dialogues between the government and the ELN.